An American President Visits Kenya

Barrack Obama returned to Kenya as President of America, and stood with Kenyan President Kenyatta today addressing the future of this challenged east African nation. Much has changed and much remains muddled since we visited in 2004 and 2006, traveling the country extensively, from Nairobi to Lake Victoria and from Mount Kenya to Mount Kilimanjaro, meeting with ordinary Kenyans and leaders in business and conservation, and writing an impressionistic essay on the experience that I presented before the Chicago Literary Club in 2007. Climate change was melting the snows atop Mt. Kill then, as now. The vast migrating herds were threatened by poachers and the march of modernization. The ancient tribal culture was threatened by modern politics and terrorism, then as now. And corruption was endemic from top to bottom of the culture then, as it apparently still is , since the President of the U.S. felt it necessary to focus on it in his remarks to the press today. Kenya is a beautiful country with a unique heritage, confronting local rivalries as well as global change, and both engaged and threatened by modernization. Kenya is a wonderful place to visit, and can importantly broaden your world view. Vicki and I recommend you do visit and enjoy this gem of natural beauty, while respecting their land and peoples.